In the wake of the midterms, I read in the comments somewhere (may have been here) a pretty detailed plan for basically suspending California's statehood until such time as it gets its affairs in order.

The OP's plan (and I) acknowledged that California is too important too defense, agriculture, etc to simply kick it out of the country - as tempting as that may be - but to allow the state to continue on its current economic path will inevitably lead to the rest of the country being dragged down with it.

The majority of voters in CA seem to have no comprehension that the state is simply out of money, and that the situation is going to get immeasurably worse in the coming years. Consequently, there's almost no way to avoid a federal bailout. But such a bailout must carry with it extremely strong restrictions to prevent the state from plowing through the money and coming back for more.

I guess all that is my way of saying, "California, you're f**ked. Why can't you see that?"

Amy - it's not about health, it's about control.

The tell is in the phrase one of the assholes used in his jubilation speech: "food justice".

At least we understand why California went full retard on Tuesday. The state is officially too stupid to live.

My suggestion to you is to move out of there to some place like Wyoming. We'll be triggering the earthquake soon.

Yeah, they didn't have Happy Meals when I was a little kid either and I still begged to go to McDonald's. But my parents actually parented me and 99% of the time said no. Imagine that.

The had Happy Meals when I was a kid, and sometimes my parents would let me have it, but it was all about moderation. I never wanted it very often. The toys were rarely impressive enough to throw a screaming hissy over it. And when I worked at McDonald's at 14, I usually went home for lunch (we lived right behind the McDonald's) because I didn't want it.

First, brian called it. It's about making sure the scared little sheeple don't have to think about anything. Nanny state at it's finest.

http://ericmar.com/page.php?pageid=2

Of course this is a guy who's wife is a teacher, and he was involved in getting teachers raises. No conflict of interest there.

San Francisco uber alles! The hippie fascists have taken over. Can the denim/suede secret police be far behind?

And to make this even more ironic, Jerry Brown is again the governor.

Saturdays and Sundays I take my 6 year old boy hiking with our dog around the lake, usually 3-5 miles total, with lots of swimming when the water is warm enough. It has always been part of the routine after that we get him a happy meal (chicken, fries and a chocalate milk) afterward.

Some of those stupid little toys (like Spy Kids, Spiderman, Pirates of the Carribean) have provided him with hours of pleasure and yes, imagination. They're no f*****g different then Lego's, except safer for younger kids. So this bit of nannyism hits home, though in Idaho the government knows better than to get too involved in our lives. Funny how they prohibit the one thing in the box that does not have any calories!

It would be great to see what would happen if McDonalds just left the city altogether.

> didn't stop my sisters and me from wanting
> McDonald's like crazy when we were kids

When you (and especially I, a little older) were kids, fast food wasn't as hideous. Over the last several decades every ingredient has been cheapened and substituted and stabilized for shelf life. It was never health food, but still... They used to have "milkshakes", and now they have "shakes".

> And to make this even more ironic,
> Jerry Brown is again the governor.

If Ronstadt charts again, I'll take my own life. Hate that woman's voice, hate it.

Also -

> [Eric's entire comment]

Yeah!

When you (and especially I, a little older) were kids, fast food wasn't as hideous.

When I worked at McDonald's, someone noted that the Chicken McNuggets tasted like rubber, so we ran a little experiment.

Yeah, they bounce.

Ha. These morons are most obviously NOT parents. If they were, they'd realize that the minute you say something is strictly off-limits, it becomes the thing the kids want the most.

And again I say, instead of restricting food, why don't these super-concerned freaks focus on making sure kids have more PE time and afterschool programs focused on physical activity??

Oh Crid, I love Linda Rondstadts voice! Yet another wedge between us. (She could really belt out Livin in the USA!)

I used to LOVE mcDonalds. Then I saw a program that suggested eating your favorite McDonald's meal (a Big Mac for me) slowly with your eyes closed. I think I've had two emergency McDonalds meals in the past year. It's pretty gross stuff.

Check this out folks about how the American kids feel about processed food. Not for the squeamish!!

http://wimp.com/nuggetexperiment/

My dog doesn't recognize chicken McNuggets as food.

Regarding your link Eric; the pink goo is gross. But really, the exact same stuff goes into my chicken soup. Everything Jamie Oliver is calling nasty (bits of meat, bones, marrow, giblets, connective tissue, skin) is what makes a great chicken stock and is all perfectly edilbe and tasty. (Well, bones not so much). Shame on him for trying to scare kids with the perfectly acceptable parts of the nuggets.

> My dog doesn't recognize chicken
> McNuggets as food.

Wow! Makes you want to get a pound puppy to serve as your Royal Taster.

Amy - You meant this ironically, right? "By the way, it's entirely possible to eat healthily at McDonald's. . ."

Come on. McDonald's latest defense against that experiment where someone is keeping its food on the counter and it's not going bad is: Our food does too mold!

I'd hardly consider that an endorsement. The buns might be bad carb-wise but what's inside them is disgusting and beyond unnatural.

Not that I think icky eating habits should be regulated.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that food so packed with preservatives and non-food food stuff that it can sit on a counter day after day after day and not rot is not food we were meant to be consuming. I think it's perfectly fine to eat once in a great while (yes, In-N-Out Burgers rock) but appealing taste doesn't make it healthy, or even not harmful. Please do provide any evidence you have showing otherwise. I'll settle for one reputable cite encouraging people to eat at McDonald's because it's perfectly fine for them.

GOOD GOD! Why is it everytime the mentions of McDonald's comes up the topic of how it sucks or the food sucks. Lets check another on another forum I am on, McDonalds mentioned, check, how it sucks two posts later, check. When did people turn into such frigging food snobs. Yes people, it is cheap, it is likely cheaply made, does not taste the best, get the FUCK over it. The topic is about banning toys and the problem fast food linked with obesity

If you do not like it, do not eat it. Quit preaching to us that do. Of course the irony is many food snobs will complain about the quality of the meat or the bun or fuck me the special sauce, but looking at the idiot preaching to mein one hand you will find a cigarette (which contains more chemicals to worry about then the soy in a McD shake) or they drink, so in the other hand a glass of beer or booze which also contains chemicals that can harm a body. In their wallet you will likely find a joint which can also be harmful (plus helpful). Ahh what is that term again - Hypocrites.

Now getting back on topic! When I was a kid for me the treat was not McDonalds but Dairy Queen. Getting a dilly bar or a blizzard was great time to have with my dad. Memories! So in the interest of protecting children maybe when need to prevent other things that interest children. First names I liked the name of BLIZZARD. So now when should stop naming foods like slushy, twinkie, cheese string. No product naming - Hence forth twinkie shall be know as yellow sponge caked filled with some sort of white filling. Second problem that influence children - COLORS! Children like colors. thus in the interest of protecting children sprinkles are now banned. Plans will be instituted to start making fast food restaurants monochromatic. Who wants to eat in a place that is black and white including the food. Next thing that will influence children is FUN! YES YES lets ban FUN! (Sarcasm end for those that actually thing I would do that!)

I'm not a big fan of McDonald's. If it is a small difference in distance -- I'd rather do Burger King.

But this is just the Nanny state (county/city) doing what it can to control the people. I bet if you as an SF resident if they think that they are independent, liberty minded person they would say yes. Then ask them if they think this "liberal idea of control" should be a law they would say yes.

They don't get the cognitive dissonance that all these controls reduce liberty of other individuals actually decreases everyone's liberty.

You're asking the right question... But there isan answer to it.

> Why is it everytime the mentions of
> McDonald's comes up the topic of how
> it sucks or the food sucks.

Because fast food is a powerful example of how our values for liberty and commercial freedom are challenged by our feelings of responsibility towards each other.

There are people who don't know anything about food, don't want to learn, don't have the budgets or enthusiasm to eat for their long-term health, and who need as many bursts of animal pleasure as they can get. They're often poor and simpleminded but entirely decent folks. For those people, a fatty, salty, microwave-heated serving of fast food is all they'll ever know about elegant indulgence. I saw a factoid today that KFC is the most popular last meal on America's Death Row. (Link lost, sorry. There's no reason to believe it's true, but how much would you wanna wager?)

You might not believe this, but I used to get in fights with people on other blogs, too. One of them was about the international righteousness of McDonald's. Other countries shouldn't be so quick to make fun of it... They say the world's best-traffic'd franchise is in Paris.

But we have to acknowledge that McDonald's succe$$ comes mostly from inexpensive delivery of bulletlike parcels of salt and fat to the human tongue. (I think it's very similar to how Hollywood's baseline product is about simplistic depictions of sex and violence.)

I'm cool with that! Really, I am! I go to McDonald's several times a year for a sausage McMuffin and Egg with a large coffee. (This is easily the most disgusting thing that happens to my body on a regular basis. And that includes alcohol habits, and the women flirted with in those hours.)

But no one should pretend fast food is holy work, or an example of America at her best.

PS- I think Eric just ruined this tiny fulfillment:

> I saw a program that suggested eating your
> favorite McDonald's meal (a Big Mac for me)
> slowly with your eyes closed.

GOOD GOD! Why is it everytime the mentions of McDonald's comes up the topic of how it sucks or the food sucks. Lets check another on another forum I am on, McDonalds mentioned, check, how it sucks two posts later, check. When did people turn into such frigging food snobs.

If you do not like it, do not eat it...

John,

This is a place where people come to voice their opinion. If you do not like it, do not read it.

You might not believe this, but I used to get in fights with people on other blogs, too.

Crid, there is just no way that I can believe that. You? You used to get in fights with people elsewhere? But you're so mellow.

Mr. Mar is nothing more than a politician. Part of the elite class that knows what's best for all the stupid people who voted for him. And those are the same people, who will be most affected by this kind of thing. That people who are reasonable about what and where they eat will be affected, they just don't care. They usually have the an attention span shorter than the life of a gastrotrich, and are unable to see how this is just another erosion of their freedoms (not that they care). If the people of San Fran want to give up their choice, more power to them. Just keep it there.

I hate to play devil's advocate here but:

The politician that knows whats best for the voters, really does know better than the people who vote away their freedoms. How after all, could he be worse than they?

The problem is that these people drag the rest of us along with them into tyranny.

I have absolutely no idea what the lung comparison is supposed to mean Amy.

I'm not saying never eat it (though I'd go for Wendy's over McD any day). I'm saying don't pretend it's remotely good for you and that you can eat healthily at McDonald's if you just remove the bun, like you claimed. Because, uh yeah, it's the bread carbs that are the worst part of the meal for people.

Patiently awaiting that cite.

A small example of the problem of direct democracy. If you want more, review California's ballot measure history.

@elementary -

Life isn't good for you either. Live hungry, or live happy. The choice OUGHT to be yours.

In San Francisco, it isn't.

That is the whole of the argument.

To see the same blinkered theft-of-liberty-for-your-own-good action in a different industry, look up Leland Yee. He wants people to go to jail for selling violent video games to minors. The whole of his argument is bullshit, but he boldly makes it and gets other people to ride along.

And the result is that people are just a little bit less free.

When they add the chains to your legs one link at a time, you hardly notice when they finally connect the two ankles together that you've been bound.

From Twitter: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-revisiting-the-myth-of-the-12-year-old-burger-testing-results.html

It's science, bitches!

We should also ban cigarettes, alcohol, ice cream, and any other substance that people WILLINGLY buy that could cause them harm. Perhaps people should have to show some sort of ID to buy candy to prove that they aren't diabetic. Honestly, if people are so stupid as to kill themselves with the things they ingest over and over and over again, I say Darwin was correct and good for them.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is lemming-like in its progressivism. The members think in terms of collective good and identity politics.

If McDonald's was the favorite eating place of transgendered lesbians, every McDonald's in the The City would be declared a shrine and Happy Meals would be religious experiences.

But it's not. It's the favorite of the Great Unwashed, of blue-collar workers (whose unions so dependably provide money for the progressives), and of poor welfare serfs (who must be told what to do for their own good).

@Brian

I say way back up that even if it's terrible for you, the government has no business regulating fast food.

I encourage all conservatives to eat at MacDonald's all you want. You may look like Rush and Jonah, but small price to pay for freedom. Ignore those chest pains. Don't worry about dates.

It's his reflexive Rush hatred again.

I'm probably healthier than Patrick, even though I'm 50 pounds overweight. And it's not from McDonalds, I can assure you. It's because I'm back on the carbs. I just can't quit the bread.

Going to the Golden Arches Supper Club (as my Dad calls McD) isn't something you do because you want a great home cooked meal. It is a fast and easy way to feed yourself/family. You go there because you are in a hurry and need to eat quickly or because your kids ask for it.

Politicians using this is just another way to divert the attention of the public. If people are sitting talking about the lack of nutrition at Mikki D's they can't be worrying/talking about the deficit or the war in Iraq/Afganistan, the lack of renewable energy sources or a million other IMPORTANT THINGS.

">Daily Show: Mandvi - San Francisco's Happy Meal Ban

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-3-2011/san-francisco-s-happy-meal-ban

Sorry, HTML Fail.

Daily Show: Mandvi - San Francisco's Happy Meal Ban

After San Francisco bans toys from Happy Meals, Aasif Mandvi introduces kids to the brand new Crappy Meal